Of Christmas & New Year Part I

So I took a little trip to Tokyo for the holidays. It was a great experience to see people and to also experience a little culture and some traditions as well. Of course, I'd like to post the entire experience here, but it could probably make up a book, so instead I'll do the highlights in a series of posts.

First off, I went and saw a really cool movie called 相棒 (Aibou), meaning "Partners." It was based on a very popular TV series here in Japan, which I believe is on its ninth season now. The series is about a couple detectives, who are extremely smart. In fact, they're despised most of their division because they tend to just take cases they want and never take cases that they are assigned. However, since they always solve their cases, they're never fired. The movie is focused on a hostage situation, and the results that come from it. I'm not going to lie. It was not exactly easy to understand, but it was very good for my Japanese. I did get a fair amount, but by no means everything. Since it was a suspense-type movie, there was lots of plot twists and such, so although I did get most of the key stuff, by no means did I get everything. However, I watched a lot of the TV series after as well, and it was a blast. I'm really happy I got to see it, and for anyone interested who speaks Japanese, I'd strongly recommend it. You can find the movie's website and trailer here: Aibou Official Website.

After that, I went with Taisuke to Yokohama（横浜). Yokohama is really a beautiful port city. Not only does it have a lot of history - for those history buffs out there, you'll remember it as the place where Commodore Perry's Black Ships landed to open up Japan to the rest of the world - it also is extremely modern and a lot of fun explore. We went obviously in the hopes of seeing the ocean, but also to see Yokohama's famous Chinatown. It's the biggest in Japan, I believe. Although it was a little cold, the trip was definitely worth it!

Yokohama's Famous Skyline

We went on a huge pier to go look at the sea, and I snapped this picture

There was also an outdoor ice skating rink. Although I'm really lousy at it, it was a blast! I can't remember the last time I went ice skating, and this is by one of the main monuments. That big red warehouse is famous for being a big red brick warehouse. I don't know why it's famous though.

Chinatown. We had some delicious Chinese food here.

Making mochi for the new year. This is rice that has been hammered into a sticky substance kind of like goo. It's very delicious and is one of the many osechi-ryouri （おせち料理), or one of the traditional New Year's foods.

We also went to Chichibu（ 秩父), a country town outside of Tokyo. It took us about 2 hours to drive there, and it was probably my favorite part of the trip! Tokyo is really a convenient city since it's so big you can find anything and you can get anywhere quickly, but it's also very crowded, especially around the holidays. So, it was really nice to get out of Tokyo and into the country for a little bit. It was my first time in the country in Japan, and I'm so happy I got to go! While I was there with Taisuke and his family, I got to meet his extended family and we also went exploring. Got to love exploring!

We went off and climbed the mountains behind his grandparents' house. It was great to go hiking again and to get some fresh air. We were able to see everything below us, the houses, the scenery, and the river flowing through it all. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was!

Some sort of farm. We thought it might be for rice, but rice doesn't grow in the winter, so we're not sure what it was.

Because they had just rerouted the river, we did go and play by it, but it was really cold. So we ended up walking on the original riverbed instead for most of it, skipping rocks in puddles, and playing on the ice patches. It was really interesting to see the original riverbed, since the rocks were worn smooth over time.

In classic Mego style, I realized that I'd never played with bamboo before, so Taisuke and I set off on an adventure to go gather some. Although we saw something that I thought was bamboo, it was only sasa (ささ), which is a type of bamboo, but it's not the big kind. Rather, it's only a thin flexible type that can't really be used for what we wanted. So we hike to where there was a bamboo forest, takebayashi (竹林) ,
in the past, but it had been cut down. Luckily, all of the bamboo was still there, so we sorted through the piles to collect a good one. This piece of bamboo is about 15 feet (3 meters) long. And we carried it down the mountain and back to the house. Taisuke, in his "I can make anything with a pocketknife" attitude, announced that he would teach me how to make cups and chopsticks. While he was at it, he'd make a flower vase for good measure.

The finished product after a couple hours work.

Since it was really very cold, we decided to head back inside to warm up under the kotatsu. A kotatsu is a type of table which has a heater underneath. It also has blankets fastened to it to keep the heat in. Basically, you sit with your legs beneath is, curl up, talk with people, and more than likely, take a nap. I found them absolutely fascinating since it was my first experience with one, so I kept checking underneath to see how it worked. There's a little switch that you flip on, and it heats. There's no worries about getting burned or anything, since the heater is covered, but you definitely stay warm. 

The kotatsu and one of the rooms in his grandparents' house. Their house is designed in the traditional fashion, so it's really beautiful. The floor is tatami mats and wood.

Unfortunately, the Chichibu dialect (秩父弁) is extremely difficult to understand, so I felt bad because I couldn't understand everything his grandparents said, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I was to go. Here's a final shot of everyone, excluding his mother because she was taking the picture at the time.

And that's the end of the first few days.

Michelle